Being from America, my youthful exposure to things Newcastle was limited to two things: coals, and brown ale.
Now, the former was always presented by my Scottish grandmother in the form of “like coals to Newcastle”, and for years I couldn’t figure out what the heck it meant (given her outspokenness what she meant was never in doubt!). Finally I pulled out our trusty World Book encyclopedia and found out about coal’s relationship to Newcastle. As for the latter, Newcastle Brown Ale was my tipple of choice for my college years; where most were drinking Heineken or a small variety of “light beers” I found the brown stuff available in quantities of lovely clear bottles.
I admit that’s poor knowledge, and a rather mundane opening to what will be a short preview of Arsenal’s match with Newcastle’s Magpies on Monday evening. They arrive at the Grove after a loss to bottom dwellers Sheffield United last Tuesday, and are on a run of form inverted from ours, with four losses and a draw in their last five games. Over the past decade or so we’ve pretty much had their number, losing twice and drawing twice in 18 Premier League games over that span.
Under Steve Bruce they’ve not been a squad that wins much, not quite one in three. “Brucey” has not had the production from his team he could have imagined, having seen them score only once in those last five games, with Callum Wilson and Joelinton flattering to deceive. It’s unsurprising, though: Newcastle have played 5-4-1 at the back over recent months, with infrequent success at either end of the pitch. Reports are that Bruce might be considering a back 4, so they might line up in more of a 4-4-1-1, with either Joelinton or Saint-Maximin in support of Wilson.
So all the portents are favorable. Our setback against Palace broke our 4-game winning streak, but we’re still undefeated in five on the strength of a quartet of clean sheets. We are without Marí (calf), but Gabigol is available for Mikel Arteta again to choose after his ankle scare; KT3 will be assessed on Monday ahead of the match. While we missed his creativity down the left on Thursday, I’d prefer to rest him again if possible so he heals properly.
I expect to see the following team, largely dissimilar from the one that put Newcastle to the sword in the FA Cup tie less than a fortnight ago. I don’t see how we can get around playing Saka, ESR, and Gabi for this one, and expect Partey to pair with Mo’Neny ahead of the defense.
Leno
Bellerin – Holding – Gabriel – Maitland-Niles
Elneny – Partey
Saka – Smith Rowe – Gabigol
Aubameyang
The Holic Pound
As with the Palace game, this is a game we must (and should) win. I think we can manage another 2-0 win against these Magpies, with Gabigol and Auba getting on the scoresheet. That’s available at about 6/1. If you think our defense will give up its scoreless streak you can get 12/1 on a 3-1 Arsenal victory. And if you really think we’re going to be wearing our scoring boots on what’s to be a chilly, wet London evening, 4-0 is available at 18s.
COYG!
Outstanding preview Scruz. Many thanks as always.
I think we should keep Laca in the team if we can. The last of the training pictures on the official site is documentary evidence that he has been practicing his goal scoring celebration, and while that alone may not be sufficient reason to keep him in the team, I expect it also means he has had a good few days in practice, and it means we can give Gabigol an extra few days to regain full fitness in the same way you wrote we should give Tierney the day off. Either Tierney or Gabigol should start for sure though to give us more creativity than we could muster last game. COYG
Thanks scruz for a fine preview with an interesting, idiosyncratic beginning. Given how impotent our left flank was with AMN at LB against Palace, I would ask Saka to play there and ask Pépé to show us what he’s made of in return for a starting place wide right. I would also persist with Laca at CF and Auba as a roving left sided threat as I think with Partey in MF they will finally get the service they need.
I’ve never been a real fan of Broon Ale. However it is the main ingedient of a drink that was briefly the fashion in my undergraduate years: the Cobalt Bomb.
A pint glass
Pour in a full bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale
Pour in a full bottle of Fowler’s Wee Heavy
Top up to the full pint with cider (or champagne if you’re flush)
Drink
Repeat
It actually tastes of strawberries! I suppose you could call it a cocktail.
Lovely pithy preview Scruz. Newky Broon was my gig going beer, back in my youth. The Cambridge Corn Exchange, back in the early 70s, before the place was refurbished in the 80s, was a cavernous hall, where you sat on your great coat. The bar was a small hatch at the back where there were two choices, Newky Broon or Harp Lager. Fuelled by the product from Newcastle (which tasted stronger then than it does now), I saw the likes of Hawkwind, Man, Rory Gallagher, Queen (on their first tour), Lindisfarne, Atomic Rooster, Thin Lizzy (play whiskey in the jar! Fuck off!) and many more.
You should think about a visit to the North East, Scruz on your next trip. I like both Newcastle, with its solid Victorian architecture, lively Quayside and an excellent University and Durham, with a superb cathedral and sprawling medieval streets. I’d give Sunderland a swerve though.
Oh the football? I’m confident. 3-0 to the good guys.
Enjoyable and sensible preview Scruz. I briefly chaired a charity in Newcastle and enjoyed walks along the beach at Tynemouth . C100 describes it well and it also has a micro climate evidenced by the lack of clothing young ladies in Bigg Market are able to wear . It is a football hotbed despite huge turbulence at the club in recent years .Mrs TTG used to have Newky Brown as her tipple when she was at university and tells me of lecherous young men trying to tempt her to drink too much of it . Fancy trying to persuade a young lady to do that?
I think we will find it tough tomorrow. Lest we forget we drew 0-0 in 90 minutes against Newcastle in the Cup and could have lost it without Leno. We must find the sort of creative spark we showed against Chelsea. That will require Tierney starting and Gabigol playing a significant part of the match .Partey will make a difference and I expect him to be paired with Xhaka . I think Gabriel will return in defence and Saka will play wide right . I do hope it is a floodlit evening League encounter with a better ending than most this season . I think we might scrape a 1-0 win but it won’t be pretty
I like the look of your team, Scruz for a game we should win comfortably. I’d rest Gabi though and add Laca back into the middle. If added spice is required, or Gabi and KT need to stretch their legs, that can happen midway through the second half.
Enjoy.
My goodness, reading the preview and first few drinks has taken me straight back to the seventies!
My last bottles (ever) of “Newky” Brown were consumed rather too hastily after seeing Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars at the Boscombe ballroom in the summer of 1972!
Bath’s Cobalt Bomb sounds freakishly similar to a version which include Stingo rather than Wee Heavy in these parts.
Countryman, if you added Chicken Shack, Genesis, King Crimson and Yes to the list you have listed my visits to Bournemouth Winter Gardens from 1971 onwards!
Cheers scuz!
DorsetMick, never saw Chicken Shack before Chrissie married John and joined Fleetwood Mac, though I’d rather go blind is a firm favourite of mine. Yes to King Crimson and Yes (though that was at the Reading Festival). No to Genesis and much preferred them in the Peter Gabriel days. Deeply envious you saw himself on the Ziggy tour.
TTG it can be -20 degrees and they still will be wearing nowt in the Bigg Market!
Dorset Mick, you’ve triggered a long forgotten memory in return. Thank you. I did love Chicken Shack though I never got the chance to see them live. A massively underrated band.
Esso I think you have hit the mark. 😎
Chicken Shack sounds good too but I hadn’t ever heard of them.
For a reality check note that Citeh are 3-0 up already against Palace . Citeh are coming into form but it does put our lack of cutting-edge into perspective
A central part of the British Blues scene in the late 60s bt8. Well worth investigating.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C9BKJA_enGB778GB778&hl=en-GB&sxsrf=ALeKk01qNb2fS0szP7hC8x4PwfNsSvg_Ew:1610917659900&q=chicken+shack+i%27d+rather+go+blind&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLSz9U3MMzNSMszUuLRT9c3LDTNMjUvLy_TEvQtLc5MdiwqySwuCckPzs9LX8SqmJyRmZydmqdQnJGYnK2QqZ6iUJRYkpFapJCer5CUk5mXAgDP8EQvUwAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIvYX376PuAhVUoVwKHRnhDg0Qri4wDHoECAoQBQ&biw=768&bih=984
Thanks, scruz – nice intro !
Have to say I’m with Bath and BtM on team selection. If we don’t need to hurry Tierney and Martinelli back, a few extra days recovery will do no harm. I wouldn’t be afraid of a half tine change or two though if the first half funds us stuck in first gear again.
First gear ? What am I talking about – more like reverse.
TTG
I think you are being more than a tad unfair to Palace, who i thought played very well against us.
Granted they were helped by our completely unbalanced defence, with 4 right footed defenders across our back line, thus totally neutering our left sided attacking options.
They took advantage of that, blocked off the right side channels, stuck to their game plan well and earned a decent point.
To then ask them with a 2 day tunaround, to travel to inform City with no Zaha in the team and expect them to repeat their effort against us, is unrealistic.
I also noticed the carping at AMN’s lacklustre performance in the drinks, which was sad to see, given he had played little first team football for a long time, was then thrown in at the last minute and asked to play in a position that did him no favors.
On other Arse matters
The Ladies team were held to a 1 -1 draw away at lowly Reading today in a very poor display.
The squad is not a happy one at the moment, with the fallout from 3 of them going on a private supposed business jaunt to Dubai recently, and one of them coming back carrying the Virus, causing deep unhappiness amongst the rest of the players.
The fallout over this could have ramifications for the rest of the season.
Clive,
You raise a good point about the tiredness that Palace must have felt. My point was more that while I am very pleased with the commonsense shown by the drinkers I can’t share the enthusiasm for our recent ‘ run’ because the last two results were 0-0 draws in ninety minutes at home and while I agree Roy Hodgson is very adept at sitting up sides to contain the opposition and Palace did this well on Thursday , the league table illustrates where they are in the league . Tolerance is the watchword on this site but at the same time we need to be producing much better performances than we have at home this season .
As Ozil departs at last we will need to be taking stock of our resources and the players that we can trade to get better ones in. I’m of the view that looking dispassionately , AMN, Chambers , Bellerin , Lacazette , Nelson and Willock are all expendable but that we have some very exciting talent bubbling under in Azeez, Cirjan, Moller and Patino although I’ve only seen flashes of them in despatches. What we will need in patience because rebuilding this squad is not an overnight job .
Good going, Scruz. Like others, I was partial to Newky Brown in younger days. But always from a bottle, never a can. Heineken brews it now, so everything comes full circle. The version on sale in the US is brewed by Lagunitas, and they finally seem to have got the hang of it.
I’m with those who would rest Tierney and Gabi for this one. Plenty of games to go where we shall need both. Arteta will probably start Xhaka with Partey, with Auba on the left and Laca upfront.
Clive@17:You make a good point about Palace.
C100@9: Christine sang on Chicken Shack’s debut album. 40 Blue Fingers. She was Perfect.
I’ll get my coat…
The highlights don’t show City ripping Palace apart. Palace defended with as much discipline and doggedness as they did against us, but City’s finishing was outstanding. Only six shots on target but four delivering top-quality goals, whereas we had four on target and none of them good enough to beat the keeper.
Cheers Scruz for a fine preview. I’ve always found a more preferential beer on offer so was never a great imbiber of Nookie brown. However the city has many great virtues, particularly the Geordies themselves. They like their footie almost as much as they like their beer. I had a few business trips up there and their hospitality always second to none – as the following morning showed the results. The youngsters must compete as to who can wear the minimum clothing whilst remaining legal, even in the middle if winter.
Back to the main purpose of the blog, I would play either one of Tierney or Gabigoal. We need one of them to provide some attacking thrust down the left side, this was entirely lacking against Palace. The boss can judge the fitness levels of both & select accordingly, with a substitution at sometime in the match as appropiate. Hoping for a repeat 2-0 win.
Short and sweet scruz👍
I’m of the 3-1 persuasion on this
one. If we rest anyone I’d rest
Auba. Let him come on for the
last 20 if needed.
Re: c100 @15. I got to see Koko Taylor perform “I’d rather go blind” three consecutive years in a small club in the Fells Point district of Baltimore where I lived in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It’s an Etta James song but this is the definitive version in my mind for its slow tempo, soulfulness and great guitar backing her. Back at ya:
bt8, that IS special.
Excellent Bt8
And we’ve won a Test Match !
I checked out Koko Taylor Bt8, on Spotify so I could play it through my Sonos speakers. Truly excellent and I thought the guitar playing really good as well. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a version of “I’d rather go blind” that I haven’t really enjoyed.
Interesting to note that the Barca goalkeeper we are being linked with , Neto , is …surprise surprise a client of Kia Joorabchian. This of itself doesn’t make him a bad goalkeeper but it doesn’t fill me with much confidence about our buying process
It smells like the same ol’ cookin’ to me. 👎🏻
Barcelona is reportedly not interested in selling Neto, considering him a viable back-up should ter Stegen’s dodgy knee sideline its No 1 again. And all Barca transfer activity this window must be up in the air now that the club’s presidential election has been postponed.
bath@28: That is probably because some of the ingredients are off, or certainly past their sell-by date.
How do we feel about Mustafi’s message to Ozil ?
Shkodran Mustafi
@MustafiOfficial
Bro, you have been the most unselfish player on and off the pitch, I have ever shared the dressing room with. You will be always remembered as the #AssistKing. Unfortunately we as a team haven’t been able to assist you when you needed us the most. All the best ❤️ #SM20
There are several people around the club who radically disagree with this view of Ozil as a victim believing that he picked and chose the fixtures he wanted to play in . It will be interesting to know how much other members of the team agree with him. Certainly I’ve seen many games in the past two years when I felt Ozil went missing or was less than 100% committed .
Still, time to move on now
David Coote. If that doesn’t ring a bell it’s not surprising because tonight is the first time he has ever refereed a Premier League match involving Arsenal. Maybe he’ll be a good one (keeping my hopes up here).
https://mobile.twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1351242993504722944
Hector injured?
Leno, Cedric, Luiz, Holding, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Smith Rowe, Aubameyang, Lacazette
Subs: Runarsson, Bellerin, Gabriel, Elneny, Willock, Willian, Pepe, Martinelli, Nketiah
Leno
Cédric Soares, David Luiz, Holding, Tierney
Partey, Xhaka
Saka, Smith Rowe, Aubameyang (c)
Lacazette
No – on bench?
You are just too darn fast on the draw, Esso.
Sorry mate
Like the team – except Cedric. Hopefully he will shut me up and play a blinder.
And I would have given Gabriel a start in front of Luiz
thanks all glad you enjoyed it. got the team wrong, though. who’d be a manager, eh?
Mourinho for fucking one. The cunt.
TTG@31: Might we feel that tweet indicates that Mustafi has got his own departure sorted?
bt8: The only Arsenal game Coote has reffed is the 2018 League Cup tie against Blackpool. We won 2-1. He sent Guendouzi off for two yellows.
Given this will be Coote’s 75th Premier League game, it is surprising he has not had an Arsenal game before. But he hasn’t had a Man City game either.
I take that back he has only done half that number of Premier League matches. Two teams to a game. Duh!
I think Arteta is rotating potentially vulnerable players hence Hector on the bench . Ceballos doesn’t even make the squad . Martinelli is on the bench. It really would make sense to allow five subs given the pressure on players this season but it has been voted down twice. I defer to Trev on these matters but it seems that you are much more likely to sustain strains and muscle pulls in the last twent6 minutes of games especially in these temperatures.
Ned
I pray you are right about Mustafi but Arteta suggested he was staying . I hope Sokratis leaves as well. We would then have got rid of three CBs in a window but still have five on the books and four on loan although Medley has just returned . And we thought George Graham liked to stockpile centre backs!
Ned @46, you’re clearly getting your head round the game now, mate. 😉
Ned @44, we can but hope! 🤞🏻
Just wondering Ned, Did he referee 37 1/2 games, or just approximately half of 75? 😉
When did we start wearing green warm-up jackets? I noticed it before the Palace game for the first time, but shouldn’t they be red and white?
Time to voice my usual fear that Carroll will score against us tonight.
Looked like an elbow on Saka!
Brilliant by ESR and Saka. Should have scored
Your write up sums up just what to expect from the match, Scruzgooner. We have started well but hope we do not run out of steam after twenty or so minutes as we did last time against them. Nice to see Partey move the ball forward a lot faster than Xhaka.
A real elbow to Saka’s face and not even a yellow card.
Auba hits the post. Unlucky there.
They have pace in Almiron and presence in the box in the form of Carrol. Got to be careful as they almost caught us out there on the counter.
Cedric is playing very well
ESR making the opposition nervous with a skillful display.
I’m ever so glad we’ve barely had this Coote fella reffing our games. After a quarter of a game he looks extremely permissive to the opposition. Clearly a believer in open season on Arsenal players.
Better shape but we need to work the goalkeeper more.
Auba very lacking in confidence
The ref is all for Newcastle. We need to move the ball faster as we seem to be playing the same game we saw against Crystal Palace, something easy to defend against.
Nothing coming off for Auba but he is in good positions
Luik misses a free header and doesn’t hit the target.
This is extremely hard to watch. It’s like being at the dentist.
See comments in the last drinks about how our centre backs need to score more from corners. Luiz all on his own there, missed by ten yards.
For those watching on Sky I am finding the commentary and particularly the summarising very biased . Don Goodman might as well be sitting there with a black and white scarf on .
I am liking ESR, Cedric , Xhaka and Tierney but our strikers are disappointing me . Arteta needs to get the team to be more creative against the low block and build up faster
TTG @65, par for the course on Sky. He’s been to the Danny Murphy school for co-commentators.
Good save by their goalie off a fine shot from Laca. We are missing goals by a whisker.
Auba!!!!
Get in Auba!
auBA
Yay
Great pass TP!
Great goal PEA!
More like this please.
Great goal and a great try by Laca earlier . That’s the Auba we know!
The goal was because of really fast and good work by Partey. Xhaka must take a leaf off that play.
Let’s get another before bar stool lad gets his greasy head on one
Xhaka saw Laca make a run and passed backward!
This ref has all the makings of an Atkinson. Ignores our players being kicked right in front of him.
Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!
ESR cuts through Newcastle and passes to Saka who takes it nonchalantly. Loverly!
Proper team goal. ESR has been terrific. His movement is excellent
What a fucking goal! ESR weaving patterns cuts it back to Saka who slams it in!
The Croyden de Bruyne and the Ealing Express strike again.
Xhaka slows things down. Just doesn’t see a forward pass and even when he seems to see one he doesn’t execute. He is ok when we are trying to defend after taking a decent lead.
Partey off. Fair play. He was great.
Laca unlucky again but a beautiful back heel nutmeg by Cedric.
Partey off Elneny on.
Your fears won’t come true today as Carroll is off.
C100.
It’s an irrational fear ksn, but instinct is strong..
Arsenal players can’t throw!
Natural to assume the worst on match days, C100.
Auba scores but lucky that the ball was just in.
Does Cedric provide more stability than Bellerin.
Auba off for Willian.
Gabi goal on for ESR who had a good game.
Take a bow ESR, take a bow. Give him the number 10 shirt.
Taxi for Bruce !
First page on Ceefax lads (one for the oldies)
Cedric may have earned another start with his performance.
We will be tenth in the table but Aston Villa who are just a point behind have played four games fewer!
Martinelli suffers the second un carded elbow to the face tonight.
The mug is now played six, won five, drawn one.
They’re looking every bit the refreshed side and that is down to good management. Cedric, KT3, Partey, ESR and Auba all looked like they had fresh legs in the second half.
Very comfortable as expected. Should really have scored 5.
Good three points. Good clean sheet.
Leno MoTM.
Big difference at right back. Cedric has been much better than Bellerin( but still we can’t take a throw in ). Bellerin really doesn’t give us very much at either end .
Good effort tonight. Very easy win. Newcastle were absolutely dire but we looked much better tonight. Very like last season’s game . I think I detected ESR with a slight limp 🤞
Three points against a totally demoralised Newcastle. Good work and Auba would have got some confidence back. Shout out to Partey, ESR and Saka and the others played well too. Fifth clean sheet running. 13 out of the last 15 points is not bad at all as we make steady progress up the table.
C100
It’s the mug wot did it !
I’m not allowed the Christmas jumper by Madame Gruppenfuhrer who beats me if I attempt to don it . I’ve only tried to put it on eight times!
bath@48: 🙂
Solid second-half performance against a Newcastle team that is just not very good. They will be in the relegation dog-fight before too long. Three good team goals, three points and a clean sheet make for a satisfactory evening’s work. Partey brings a something different to midfield — moving the ball forward. Xhaka please note. ESR is growing into being a Premier League No 10. Laca and Saka did well, and Tierney was Tierney. Good to see Auba getting a brace and doing his summersault again. Cedric was sufficiently tidy at right back to suggest Bellerin won’t get back into the team easily. C100’s mug MOTM.
You bastards who keep laying into Xhaka ! 😃😃
To be fair the Xhaka we’ve seen since the Chelsea game has been much more effective. He looks better alongside Partey who despite not being match sharp was still very impressive tonight . I still prefer midfield players who are more mobile and dynamic and Xhaka will never be that. But he was an anchor not a wanker tonight.
More of the same please – especially at right back. Cedric was my motm. Moved tirelessly on his flank, combined nicely with saka and esr and what an incredible backheel nutmeg! Totally deserved his assist.
We needed to score as early as possible to open spaces with Newcastle and what a time for our captain to step up. I hope this is a start of a long goalscoring run for Auba.
Xhakha and Partey both looked good in the midfield with the latter providing a lot of composure and quality. Solid 65 minutes for him, need him fit and firing for the next half of the season.
Would have liked to see Pepe instead of Willian to get some minutes against tired legs and build some confidence. Great to see Martinelli back on the pitch. Fingers crossed on Ceballos’ injury.
Finally adieu to MO10, thanks for all the wonderful memories.
COYG
Also a big thumbs up to our fifth consecutive clean sheet (first time since 2009!!). Leno and Holding were professional against a mediocre attack. With Gabriel back we should further improve our set pieces at both ends.
COYG
Enjoyed that
Big result. A pretty poor first half but the lads produced some lovely stuff in the second for a deserved 3-0. No failures on the field and very good performances from Cedric, KT3, Partey, Saka, ESR, Laca and PEA.
Most importantly another injection of self-belief/confidence into this group. Looking upwards now and shouldn’t be fearful in the next group of games.
Poor first half. Much better second half. Great to see Partey play a part. He looks some player and makes you realise just how average Xhaka is.
Another clean sheet and only 8 points off of second.
Bit of a rave review from our favourite Gooner posh boy in The Times, Henry Winter. Apologies if you can’t get past the paywall, but the phrase that caught my eye was “Arsenal are headed for the Champions League, Newcastle are headed for the Championship”. I don’t think he meant this year, but the future is so, so bright.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang double sends Steve Bruce’s lifeless Newcastle deeper into trouble
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pierre-emerick-aubameyang-double-sends-steve-bruces-lifeless-newcastle-deeper-into-trouble-kvdjgq268
I can’t wait to get back into the ground and watch this team.
You don’t have to be a posh boy to write in the Times C100 😃
But it helps. I shall read it over breakfast before the cat sits on the paper .
Liked your observations SlaSh. I’ve been disappointed by Bellerin for a long time and Cedric underlined how limited a player he is tonight . Hugely overrated based on I’m not quite sure what. He’s never kicked on after his breakthrough although his injury was a very serious one .
Our attack was more varied and diversified as the identities of the assisters on the goals would suggest: Partey, Smith Rowe, Cédric
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>